1994. Nancheng. Cuihu Garden.



Shen Nian'an was four years old. Shen Zhengye was thirty-four, a PhD in materials science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, just having left the research institute to start a business. Gu Zhilan was thirty, a lecturer in the Computer Science Department at Nancheng University. The family of three lived in a small house with a yard in Cuihu Garden. In the yard was a very large osmanthus tree.



One afternoon in October, the doorbell rang.



Gu Zhilan looked through the peephole. Standing outside the door was a woman around thirty years old. Gray coat. Hair combed neatly. Holding a folder in her hand. Smiling politely.



"Hello, from the subdistrict office. Coming to do household registration."



Gu Zhilan opened the door. She shouldn't have opened that door. After the woman entered, her eyes never stopped moving. While filling out the form, she kept scanning into the living room. In the living room, a photo frame of the family of three on the coffee table. In the corner of the sofa, a pink cloth rabbit. On the shoe rack by the entrance, a pair of very small white leather shoes.



"How old is your daughter?"



"Four."



"She goes to kindergarten, right?"



"Mm, Beilei Kindergarten in the east district."



"Does your husband travel frequently for work?"



"He does scientific research. Frequently away on business."



In less than ten minutes, the woman put away the form and left with a smile.



That woman's name was Hu Yulan. She was a scout for the human trafficker ring in Nancheng. She had already been watching the Shen family for a week. The male head of household was away for long periods. The nanny wasn't there today either. Just mother and daughter.



At 2 AM, the osmanthus tree swayed in the night wind. Her accomplice Ma San climbed over the yard wall and made his way to the back door. An old-fashioned spring lock. A wire twisted twice and it opened. At the end of the second-floor corridor, the first room. The door was ajar.



A pink small bed. The little girl was sleeping very deeply on her side. One hand hugging the cloth rabbit. The other hand gripping the jade pendant around her neck. A vibrant green jadeite with an orchid engraved on it.



Ma San bent down. Left hand covering her mouth. Right hand lifting the entire person out from under the blanket. Nian'nian's eyes flew open suddenly. The four-year-old's eyes went wide as saucers. Her mouth was covered so tightly she couldn't make a sound. She struggled desperately. Her small hands grabbed the wooden railing of the staircase banister. Her fingernails scraped out several white marks. Ma San's grip tightened. Nian'nian stopped moving. Not because she stopped struggling. She had been scared into submission.



Less than two minutes. The van disappeared into the night along the service road outside the residential complex.



The next morning at 6:20 AM, Gu Zhilan's alarm went off. She went to her daughter's room as usual. The pink small bed was empty. The blanket was thrown to one side. The cloth rabbit had fallen on the floor. The patch on the left ear was smudged with dirt.



"Nian'nian?"



No one answered. She thought Nian'nian had run to the living room. Went downstairs to look. No. Kitchen? No. Bathroom? No. She ran to the first-floor window. The window was open. The back yard iron gate was half open. She ran out in her pajamas and bare feet, running and shouting on the street. Neighbors were woken up by the shouting. Someone called the police.



The police came and looked at the scene. Someone had climbed in through the window. Pry marks on the back door lock.



"Did any strangers come to the door yesterday?"



"Yes... a woman. Said she was from the subdistrict office doing household registration."



The subdistrict office said there was no such thing. Gu Zhilan squatted at the entrance of the police station.



Shen Zhengye received the phone call on the highway in a neighboring province.



"Mr. Shen, your daughter is lost."



He parked the car on the emergency lane and sat in a daze for a long time. Then he turned the car around and drove six and a half hours home.



When he got home, the living room was full of people. Gu Zhilan was sitting on the sofa, gripping that cloth rabbit in her hand, her eyes staring blankly at the photo on the coffee table. Shen Zhengye walked upstairs, pushed open his daughter's door, and closed the door. Pink gauze curtains. Princess bed. Fairy tale picture books. Everything was there. On the bedsheet, there was still residual body heat from Nian'nian. He sat on the edge of the bed and buried his face in the pillow.



That year, he began looking for his daughter. Printed a hundred thousand missing person notices. Took Gu Zhilan and traveled half of China. The train station and bus station in Nancheng. The wholesale market in the provincial capital. As far as the Yunnan border and Guizhou mountain areas. Every time he arrived at a place, he held up the missing person notice and asked:



"Have you seen this child? Four years old. Girl. Wearing a green jade pendant."



Most people shook their heads and walked away. The first three years spent all their savings. The company nearly collapsed. Gu Zhilan quit her university job to look for the child full-time. Lost thirty pounds. Later, the company recovered. Shen Zhengye took twenty percent of the company's annual profits to create a missing person fund. The reward increased from two hundred thousand to two million. Some people had falsely claimed it. Some had deceived him. Each disappointment was like a knife. But he didn't dare stop. Afraid that if he stopped, he really wouldn't be able to find her.



He searched. For twenty-four years.